Army on November 23. Machno' s traitorous plan was not successful, and at present his main forces are already beaten, thanks to the prompt and energetic steps of the commander of the South-front. The Machnp artillery has fallen into our hands. Our troops have received order to mercilessly exterminate the Machno bandits, who traitorously disturb the building up of Soviet Ukraine." That the bolsheviks, after the victory over Wrangel, would annihilate Machno was plain — after they had used them as their instrument in the struggle against Wrangel. But it is also clear that they had to try to surround this act with an appearance of righteousness and to justify their actions. For that reason it need not surprise anybody that the bolsheviks again take recourse to lies. Having previously read how they before took back their own lies, calling it all a mistake and blaming it all on the reports of the French capitalist papers, we will also properly appreciate the news now before us. It is really quite remarkable that "the peaceful inhabitants" of Ukraine themselves never have anything against Machno, but only against the foreign Red Army. But what is correct in this report is, that "the peaceful building up of the Soviet government of Moscow" was being sabotaged by the Ukrainian peasants who fought under Machno, for that is a government the peasants do not want. They would rather be "plundered" by Machno than by the requisition detachments of the Red Army.
The Socialist Movement in Ukraine
The socialist movement of Ukraine has a more or less anarchist character. This character is to be traced back less to theories and doctrines than to the influence which the political and economic conditions of the country exerted upon the mind of the peasants.
Marxism, which in Russia came to expression in the form of bolshevism and menshevism, has less of a footing in Ukraine. On the other hand, the Russian Peasant and People's Socialism of the Narodnik Social-Revolutionaries is more strongly represented. This "people's socialism," which is penetrated with strong anarchist tendencies, has been able, so far, to hold back Marxian and West-European socialism. In Ukraine, Bakunin lives stronger than Marx.